Microsoft Corp. honors its 2008 Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs), a highly select group of experts who represent the best and brightest in technical communities, at the 2008 MVP Global Summit April 14 - 17 in Seattle at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center and at Microsoft headquarters in Redmond. MVPs are recognized by Microsoft as outstanding leaders who voluntarily share their expertise in technical communities worldwide. MVPs also provide invaluable feedback to Microsoft by serving as early adopters of new technology and assisting in the product design and development processes.

More than 4,000 MVPs worldwide cover 90 different Microsoft technologies in 94 countries. Mirroring the wide range of real-world challenges and applications that MVPs represent, the summit will feature more than 600 technical sessions on topics ranging from enterprise security and virtualization to gaming and digital media.

This year's summit also marks new leadership for the MVP program, as Toby Richards takes on the role of general manager of Community Support Services for Microsoft. The MVP Global Summit will conclude with closing remarks by Steve Ballmer, Microsoft chief executive officer, and Ray Ozzie, Microsoft chief software architect.

"Microsoft MVPs are an amazing group of individuals," Richards said. "By sharing their knowledge and experiences and providing objective feedback, MVPs play an integral role in the improvement of Microsoft products, while also helping people solve problems and discover new capabilities. It gives us great pleasure to recognize and thank MVPs for their demonstrated commitment to helping others."

MVPs drive customer satisfaction through direct interaction with Microsoft users, answering more than 1 million user-group questions annually. They can also directly affect the quality of Microsoft technology and processes through early testing and feedback. MVPs have contributed to the development of almost every recent Microsoft release including Windows Server 2008, Microsoft SQL Server 2008, 2007 Microsoft Office system and Windows Vista. One MVP's feedback drove substantial performance improvements to Windows Mobile 6.1 and enhancements in the improvement and re-release of the Microsoft Junk E-Mail Reporting Tool. In addition, 268 MVPs participated in Windows Home Server Connect programs worldwide.

"The worldwide technical community is growing at such a rapid pace," Richards said. "Microsoft is privileged to collaborate with exceptional leaders in the world of technology through the MVP program. At this year's summit we hope to energize these leaders as well as use their independent, objective feedback for the betterment of Microsoft's products and services."

Microsoft began the MVP Awards as a way to recognize members of the general public who devoted their time and technical expertise to helping users in various online technical forums. Over time, the program evolved, and awards are given to members of technical communities worldwide for their contributions to communities including third-party Web sites, user groups, blogs and wikis.

Cheers ~ Arne